Bulls Rumors: Trading Derrick Jones Jr. for a clean player swap for Jakob Poeltl would be easiest
It’s hard to tell just how willing the Spurs would be to part ways with a valuable piece in their frontcourt unit such as Poeltl for a currently injured Bulls player like the uber-athletic forward Derrick Jones Jr. Although, it still looks like the Bulls will be more willing to trade DJJ at the deadline than most of their other core players in the rotation.
That is largely due to the fact that most of the other top dozen or so players in the Bulls rotation will be absolutely crucial for what second-year head coach Billy Donovan and his staff want to do in the postseason. DJJ could have his production be more replaceable for Donovan and the Bulls than most other core pieces in this rotation.
DJJ could provide a lot of value to the Spurs if they were contending for a solid postseason slot in the Western Conference down the stretch this season. But that just doesn’t look to be the case in the midst of the season half of the regular season in San Antonio.
The likely scenario for the Spurs is going to be to continue to develop the younger core pieces of their rotation such as rising star point guard Dejounte Murray and versatile shooting guard/wing Devin Vassell.
Yet, this is why executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley could also give up a future second-round draft pick.
This deal could work if the Spurs aren’t asking too much for Poeltl. But this is also the trade package between the Bulls and Spurs that sees the least value going to San Antonio to get Poeltl to the Windy City.